I was in Mumbai on December 6 this year, having attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Mahayuti government at Azad Maidan the previous day. It was Babasaheb Ambedkar’s death anniversary, and a journalist friend suggested seeing how Dalits from across the state flock to the city every year on this day to pay tribute to the man who framed India’s constitution — and work for change. their lives.
While driving from Haji Ali to Shivaji Park, I saw a double file of people to get there. Chaityabhoomi, where Babasaheb’s Samadhi is located. Five lakh people were present in Mumbai that day. They were allowed free rail travel across the state, and most would return the same night after paying homage to their icon and looking around Mumbai for a few hours.
I was aware of Babasaheb’s standing among the Dalits, but I did not realize the respect with which they, especially the youth, look up to him now. “I am doing law because I want to be like Babasaheb,” said a college student who came from Aurangabad with her ailing grandfather.
A student who hoped to “work in an MNC” said: “It is because of him that I can get an education today. I pay Rs 515 but I will pay Rs 1 lakh for his education.
A passionate 30-year-old farmer from Yavatmal district said: “Babasaheb is our role model, ma-bap se bhi jayada ho. Hame jeene ka tareeka sikhaya hai, unse ashirwad lene mein sukoon milta hai, urja aati hai (He is more than a parent to us. He taught us how to live, comforts us to take his blessings, it gives us energy). “
Many from Beed, Nashik, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Nanded, etc. arrived in the wee hours of the morning, some traveling for eight or nine hours. Chaityabhoomi in Shivaji Park looked like an Ambedkar festival site with leader’s photos, festoons, food stalls, theater programs, books and pamphlets. Food was free (arranged by NGOs and government agencies).
A young woman selling a magazine on the Dalit issue said, “Baba Saheb considered inequality and casteism as the basis of Hinduism. So he said, ‘Though I was born as a Hindu, I will not die as a Hindu.
Many of those at Chaityabhoomi were also neo-Buddhists, like Ambedkar, who converted to Buddhism before his death in 1956.
Mumbai on those two days was filled with posters of Ambedkar, more than Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar – or rather, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath. It seemed that there is an increase in aspirations in the community.
Last week I visited the Ambedkar Museum in Pune – and saw people bowing at the entrance.
Despite Ambedkar’s differences with Mahatma Gandhi over separate electorates for the “depressed classes”, which resulted in the Poona Compromise of 1931, and Jawaharlal Nehru, whose cabinet he eventually left as Law Minister in 1951, he was chosen by the two to lead. Constitution Drafting Committee. However, that time was different.
“Let’s face it,” said a Mumbai entrepreneur who is not a Dalit, “Babasaheb has become a part of the trinity of the country Today, with Gandhi and Nehru. No party can ignore him, every party wants to suit him.
The controversy in Parliament last week over the Dalit leader was not surprising. Neither party wanted to be seen on the wrong side of Ambedkar. In his address to Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah quoted chapter and verse and claimed that, over the years, the Congress has not recognized his contribution but only insulted him. And the Congress seized on Shah’s comment that it was now fashionable to say “Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…” as the Union home minister “mockered” at the Dalit leader.
The controversy witnessed an ugly brawl in Parliament, the hospitalization of two BJP MPs, and the extraordinary step of an FIR filed against Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP, which lost Dalit support in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, is believed to have regained some of this support in the Maharashtra and Haryana elections as it fell short of a majority. Shah even held a press conference saying that his statement about Ambedkar was being distorted by saying that the BJP was no longer a “Brahmin Bania” party, which was in danger of jeopardizing Dalit support. Prime Minister Modi, who remains aloof in such cases, jumped to the defense of his No.2.
Seeing an opportunity to intensify its pressure for Dalit support, the Congress has promised a nationwide ‘movement’ on the issue. Divided until a few days ago on the Adani issue and on the question of who should lead the alliance, the Bharat Bloc united around Babasaheb Ambedkar.
The problem, however, is timing. There are no major elections around the corner – except for small Delhi, and then Bihar in 2025.
However, the DMK has passed a resolution criticizing Amit Shah’s “joking” words. Arvind Kejriwal, who has entered the election field, has made a proposal promising financial assistance to Dalit students who enroll in prestigious foreign universities.
On behalf of the BJP, Maharashtra CM Fadnavis wasted no time in announcing a judicial probe into the death of a Dalit law student, “who wanted to be just 1% of Babasaheb”, after being picked up in police custody in Parbhani district. He is accused of protesting against the insult of the constitution. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar moved to highlight the incident, and Fadnavis rushed his deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to do damage control.
Political parties now know how quickly Dalit youth can galvanize – just as they did in the Lok Sabha elections after the opposition claimed that “400 par (400-plus)” seats for the BJP could end Babasaheb-enabled reservation.
Today, with the demise of the dominant Dalit party, the BSP, there is a growing vacancy in Dalit leadership. Now it seems to be led by young, educated, ambitious Dalits. Ambedkar’s importance in their life has increased a lot. Political parties understand this shift – and can no longer ignore it.
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